Transporting apparatus



No. 6|I,567. Patented Sept. 27, |898. W. R. DIEHL.

TRANSPORTING APPARATUS.

(Application filed May 19, 1898.) ("0 MOBL) 2 Sheets-#Sheet l.

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No. 6||,567. Patented sept.,27, |898.

W. R. DIEHL.

TRANSPURTING APPARATUS.

Upplcation filed May 19, 1898.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheetsv-Sheet 2.

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Nimh' IVALTER R. DIEI-IL, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- IIALF TO I/VALTER LYON, OF ALLEGI'IENY, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRANSPORTING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 611,567, dated September 27, 1898..

Application filed May 19, 1 898. Serial No. 681,131. (No model.)

To @ZZ whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER R. DIEHL, a resident of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Transporting Apparatus; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to apparatus for the transporting of heavy objects, such as cannon, steam-shovels, shipyard and otherheavy service, &c.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a means for such transportation of heavy objects Without the necessity of laying a track; and it consists in certain new and novel features of construction, which Will be more fully hereinafter described.

In the drawings, Figure I is a side view of a portion of any suitable car or vehicle with body mounted upon the trucks B, (only one of which is shown in the drawings.) The trucks B carry the boxes b, said boxes being connected to the trucks in the ordinary manner. Mount# ed to revolve in the boxes b are the car-axles b', upon which are keyed or otherwise secured the wheels C. The wheels C are rigidly secured to the axles b', so that said wheels and axles will revolve together. The wheels C are of a novel construction,which will be more fully hereinafter described. Keyed or otherwise secured to the outer ends of the shafts or axles b are the cranks b2, said cranks being connected together by means of the connecting-rods b3. These connecting-rods are two in number for each truck, being upon opposite sides of the same, and are connected at a quarter to each other, so that the power will be constant from one axle to the other. The power may be applied to the Wheels from any suitable motor or engine, and I do not wish tobe considered as limiting myself in any manner to the construction shown. The construction shown in the drawings consists of the two cylinders d, (only one of which is illustrated,) coupled at a quarter, which are connected to the boilers a' in any suitable rnanner, said connection not being shown on the drawings. The piston-rod CL2 is attached toa piston within the cylinder, said rod being connected to the cross-head d3, working in suitable guides CL4. A guideway a5 is formed in the cross-head a3 for the blocks a6. A crank-pin a7 upon the crank co8 is journaled in the blocks d6, said crank bei ing keyed to a shaft a9, upon which is keyed the pinion ax. The shaft a9 is suitably mounted in suitable bearings, said bearings, however, not being shown.

The pinionoi meshes into the gear-wheel b4, Which is keyed to one of the axles h', and motion is thus imparted to revolve kthe axle b' and likewise the wheels C, which are secured thereto. The wheels O are preferably formed with a central face or tread c and flange c'. This central face or tread and iiange is for the purpose of transporting the car upon tracks when desired, as would be quite advantageous at times in moving it from place to place where a regular line of railway could be utilized. Outside of the `face or tread' portion c and inside the ange c are the flanges o2, and next to these are the two half-treads c3 and c4, respectively. In the position shown in the drawings, Fig. 3, the half-tread c3 is down, while the half-tread c4 is up, or, more properly speaking, they are diainetrically opposite to each other. In practice I Iind it convenient to have these treads slightly more than half the circumference of the wheel-that is to say, they slightly overlap each other. This is for a purpose which will be more fully hereinafter described.

Outside the aforementioned half or segmental treads c3 and c4 are the semicircular cogs or segmental racks c5 and c6. The cogs or racks c5 correspond substantially in point of circumferential measurement and position to the tread c3, and in the same way the cogs c6 correspond substantially to the tread c4. The diameter of pitch-line of said cogs c5 and cG is equal to the diameter of treads c3 and c4,

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all of said diameters being equal to each other.

Beneath the aforementioned wheels C are the movable track-sections D. These tracksections D consist of the two skids d and d', which are held close together and parallel in a manner more fully described hereinafter and, as shown in Fig. 1, have uptnrned ends d2. These track-sections are preferably formed only of sufficient length necessary for the use of one truck or set of wheels. This allows the turning of the trucks at an angle to the course of the car, as will be more fully described hereinafter. Secured upon the upper surface of the skids d and d' are the railsections e. The skids d and d are preferably made longer than the rail-sections e, so as to give a greater bearing-surface to uphold the weight of the car and its load. Each rail-section e is formed with the flanges e', web e2, and tread e3. Secured to or formed integral with the web e2 are the rack-teeth e4, formed upon the inner faces of said web. Flanges j' project out from the outside of the rails, near the upper part thereof, said flanges having the teeth f formed upon their upper faces, the pitch-line of the teeth f being in the same plane as the upper face of the rail-tread c3. The segmental treads c3 c4 ride alternately upon the rail-treads e3 e3, while the segmental teeth c5 c6 alternately engage their respective racks f. The flanges c2 extend down inside the rails c and aid in holding the wheels from side movement upon said rails.

Secured upon the lower face of the trucks B are the guide-boxes g, said boxes being best shown in Figs. 4 and 5. A rod g extends longitudinally of the box g, being held in place by the adjustable plugs g2. Mounted to reciprocate upon the rod g and in the guideways g3 of guide-box gis the cross-head h, said cross-head having the arm or stud h/ depending therefrom. A gear-wheelt' is j ournaled upon the lower end of the arm or stud 7L', being held in place by means of the nut i'. Heavy coil-springsK surround the rod g', said springs being interposed between the cross-head h and plugs g2.

The tension upon the springs K may be varied by turning the plugs g2, said plugs being threaded Vinto their seats in the box g. Extending out from the four corners of the box g are the four arms on, at the outer ends of which are formed the guides m. Stems n are fitted into said guides m', being free to revolve or slide therein. The rollers n' are rigidly secured to the lower'ends of the stems n, the upper ends of said stems being threaded to receive a nut n2, and a stout coil-spring 0 surrounds the stem n, being interposed between the guide m and the nut n2. The rollers n bear against the outside of the Webs e2 of the rails e and tend to keep the skids close together. When the weight of the car or vehicle has been removed from either of the skids d or d', the springs o, through the stems n and rollers n, act to lift said skid d or d',

the rollers n taking hold of the rail e beneath the flange f.

The pinion i meshes into the racks e4 upon both the rails e at one and the same time. I do not Wish to limit myself in any sense to the exact construction described and illustrated, as that may be varied without affecting the scope of my invention.

The operation of my invention is as follows: Supposing the parts to be in the positions shown in Figs. l and 3, power is applied through the engine d to operate the wheels of the truck B. The centers of half-treads c3 are resting upon the rails e, and their corresponding toothed segments d are in mesh with the teeth of rack f. The loose rails e and their skids CZ have been raised by means of the springs o, acting through the stems n and rollers n. It will therefore be noticed in Fig. 3 that the weight of the car is upon the outer skids d of the rail-supports and that the inner skids are raised free from the ground and are free to move. It will also be noticed from Fig. l that the skids d and d are side by side point for point. This is due to the fact that the half-treads c3 have their center points resting 'upon the rails e-that is to say, that the treads c3 have revolved one-half of their circumferential length. As the wheel proceeds to revolve in the direction of arrow, Fig. l, the treads c3 will continue to run upon the rail e with the segmental teeth c5 in mesh with the teeth of rack f, and as the car moves forward the teeth of gear-wheel ,meshin g into the teeth of rack e4,said gear-wheel is revolved, and as the teeth of the gear-wheel t' are also in mesh with the teeth of rack e4 upon the rail e of the skid CZ said skid d will be propelled forward thereby, being thus propelled by the forward movement of the truck as well as by the rotation of the gear-wheel t'. The gear-wheel radvances the free skid or tracksection to the exact position to allow the in termeshing of the segmental rack c5 with its fellow on the corresponding track-section, which is about to sustain the supportingwheels C. The racks are for the purpose of making it impossible for the wheels to slip. It will be seen that this movement will propel the loose skid d forward until it moves ahead of the car and in position for the treads c4 to bear upon it and take the weight of the car off from the skid d, when the skid d will be raised by means of the springs O, so that it will be first brought up even with the skid d during the first quarter of the revolution of the wheels and during the next quarterrevolution will be propelled ahead in a similar manner to that previously explained in connection with the skid d.

' AS previously explained, the treads c3 and c4 extend slightly farther than one-half the circumference of the wheel or that they somewhat overlap each other. This is for the purpose of preventing any jar or jolt that might come upon the car when the wheel is changing its bearing from one rail to the other.

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this wereinot so constructed, the wheels and v and neither will be free to move, holding thegear-Wheel t' and its studor arm h stationary. At the saine time, however, the car is going forward and the cross-head will ride backward upon the rod g', compressing one of the springs 7s. As soon as the further revolution of the wheels allows the parts to pass over this point the Whole weight of the car will again come upon one skid, leaving the other free to move, when the spring 7c will force the cross-head h, carrying stud or arm h and wheel t' back to their normal positions and making up for the lost motion due to this temporary holding down of both skids.

It will be seen by the above description that the motion is practically a stepping or walking motion, enabling a heavy article to be propelled forward step by step over soft or yielding ground without the aid of a permanent track and overcoming the necessity of laying same. It Will also be seen that if the truck B were turned at an angle to its course the skids would be turned also, and the course of the car might thus be varied.

Having'now fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In transporting apparatus, wheels for supporting the object to be transported, longitudinally-movable track-sections,means for supporting and driving said wheels on one set of said track-sections, and mechanism for advancing the other set, alternately, substantially as set forth.

2. In transporting apparatus, wheels for supporting the object to be transported, longitudinally-m ovable track-sections, means for supporting and driving said Wheels on one set of said track-sections, and mechanism for elevating and advancing the other set, alternately, substantially as set forth.

3. In transporting apparatus, wheels for supporting the object to be transported, longitudinally movable track sections, said wheels having segmental treads at opposite portions of their peripheries adapted to en the truck, said gear-wheel meshing with said rack faces, and mechanism for driving said first mentioned wheels, substantially as set forth. y

5. In transporting apparatus, wheels for" supporting the object to be transported, longitudinally movable track sections, said wheels having segmental treads and cogs at opposite portions of their peripheries adapted to engage with said track sections, alternately, said track-sections having rack-faces thereon engaged by said cogs, a longitudinally movable bearing, a horizontal gearwheel depending from said bearing, said gearwheel meshing with corresponding rack-faces on said track-sections, and mechanism for driving said first-mentioned wheels, substantially as set forth.

6. In transporting apparatus, Wheels for supporting the object to be transported, longitudinally movable track sections, said Wheels having segmental treads and cogs at opposite portions of their peripheries adapted to engage with said track sections, alternately, said track-sections having rack-faces thereon engaged by said cogs, a rod supported by the truck, a sliding sleeve on said rod, springs interposed between the ends of said sleeve and the support for said rod, a horizontal gear-wheel depending from said sleeve, said gear-wheel meshing with corresponding rack-faces on said track-sections, and mechanism for driving said rst-mentioned wheels, substantially as set forth.

7. In transporting apparatus, Wheels for supporting the object to be transported, axles on which said Wheels are mounted, cranks on said axles, connecting-rods, said wheels having segmental treads at opposite portions of their peripheries, longitudinally movable track-sections adapted to be engaged alternately by said treads, mechanism for advancing the free set of track-sections, and mechanism for driving said cranks, substantially as set forth.

8. In transporting apparatus, wheels for supporting the object to be transported, longitudinally-movable track-sections,means for supporting and driving said wheels on one set of said track-sections, and mechanism for advancing the other set, alternately, a yoke depending from the truck, horizontal rollers j ournaled in said yoke and adapted to engage projections on said track-sections, said rollers being vertically movable in their bearings, and means for lifting same, substantially as set forth. i

In testimony whereof I, the said WALTER R. DIEHL, have hereunto set'my hand.

WALTER R. DIEIIL.

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